…is that you never really recall the whole of the decade you were born in.
I fear that for a man who’s a mere twentysomething*, I’m getting awfully nostalgic.
Although of course it’s possible that in actual fact, the problem is we assume decades start in years beginning in zero and ending in 9. One blogger I read once claimed that most of the Seventies was pop-culturally still the Sixties and the only truly unique thing about the pop music was punk, which only really got going around… 1977? I’ve personally observed that most pop music trends tend to start towards the middle to end of a decade and sometimes carry forward. For example, Gary Numan’s “Cars” featured on last month’s 1979 Top Of The Pops repeats on BBC4, a clear example of synthpop from before the ’80s. There must have been earlier examples than this. Or the Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star which was released in the same year, yet pop videos at least were more iconically associated with the arrival of MTV in the ’80s. (Not to mention said song isn’t entirely lacking on the synths, so it is often mistaken for an early ’80s hit). And, since this blog is nothing without the odd mention of politics, I reckon the socio-political ’80s started roughly in 1979 (with the election of Margaret Thatcher) and ended in 1991 (with the breakup of the Soviet Union).
But there is still a good chunk of ’80s I missed out on first time round- like the entire highpoint of the classic 8-bit micro era not to mention a lot of synthpop, New Romanticism, the launch of Channel 4, classic Doctor Who still on the telly, etc.. Trouble is, I reckon were I to have been born earlier I’d not have enjoyed it- thinking as much of the 8-bit micros as I did of smartphones and tablets up until recently (I have belatedly started using one but still reckon touchscreens are a far-from-perfect interface- and affording even less escape from the internet I am so addicted to at times…), New Romanticism would have seemed even more silly than it does to me now, and synthpop would be Bleeping** Awful Noise which doesn’t use any real instruments like proper good old-fashioned music. Not to mention more recessions, controversial Tory-led governments, the miner’s strike, the lingering threat of nuclear war… there truly is no golden age one can look back to, which is any better than now. But it would have been nice to have seen it.
* Getting on for thirty I know (though a year older than when I started the post), but still…
** Tempted as I am to use a “colourful metaphor” here, this is a family-friendly blog, as ’twere, so I shall refrain. And if you get that reference, it’s from a film I was sadly too young to see on the big screen, or even to care at the time. Another problem with being born too soon…
Republic of Lyniezia 